Lunar Mantle Mysteries: Unveiling the South Pole Aiken Basin, Mars' Garnet Evolution

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Stuart Gary: This is space Time Series 29, Episode

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75 for broadcast on 24

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June 2026. Coming up on

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Space, the moon's oldest and largest

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impact crater. Uh, new clues about how the

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red planet Mars evolved and NASA's new

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mission to boost the Swift spacecraft back

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into a higher orbit. All that and more

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coming up on, uh, Space Time.

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Stuart Gary: Welcome to Space Time with Stuart

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Gar.

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Stuart Gary: A new study suggests that the moon's oldest

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and largest impact crater, the two and a half

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thousand kilometre wide south pole Aiken

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Basin, could have excavated material so deep

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it included parts of the lunar mantle. The

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findings, reported in the journal Science

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Advances and Geophysical Research Planets,

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provides fresh insights into the early

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evolution evolution of our solar system and

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what the Artemis astronauts will encounter

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when they land at the lunar south pole in

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2028. One of the

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study's authors, William Bottke from the

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Southwest Research Institute in Boulder,

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Colorado, says the collision struck the lunar

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surface with so much force that it may have

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excavated material from deep inside the moon,

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including portions of the lunar mantle. Using

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advanced models and simulations, Bottke and

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colleagues recreated the crater forming

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impact and identified new evidence about the

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direction and composition of that struck the

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moon. Their work shows the best fit was an

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impactor approaching from the north and

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travelling south, hitting at a low angle and

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producing the elongated tapered shape of the

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basin. The modelling suggests the

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impactor wasn't a simple uniform body, but a

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differentiated object with an eyeing course

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surrounded by rock. In other words, it could

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have been a small protoplanet or a large

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differentiated asteroid. As the

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impactor slammed into the moon at a low

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angle, it excavated a deep asymmetric cavity

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and melted the rock in the central basin. The

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collision lofted large amounts of material

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from both the lunar crust and mantle, which

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later settled back onto the basin floor.

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The authors also analysed how this ejector

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would have been distributed beneath and

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around the basin. They compared high

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resolution gravity data uh with models that

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included both crustal and mantle material,

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determining that the basin likely contained

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substantial amounts of mantle derived rock

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within its interior and mixed into the

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ejector blanket surrounding the crater. A few

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subsequent impacts within the basin appear to

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have later excavated these underlying matter

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deposits, bringing some of this material to

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the surface where it is lying there, ready to

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be sampled by robotic rovers or people on

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future missions. Earlier theories

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had suggested that the deepest ejector might

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be confined to parts of the basin far uh from

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the proposed south pole exploration zones.

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However, these new simulations and gravity

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modelling indicates that key deposits of

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mantle bearing ejecta may well blanket

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portions of the lunar south pole right where

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the astronauts will land. The research is

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fascinating because it's telling mission

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managers exactly where to look for samples

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which could answer some of our biggest

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questions about the Moon's origin and

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evolution, and consequently, about the

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evolution of the inner solar system.

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This is space time. Still to

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come, new clues about how the Red Planet Mars

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evolved, and NASA's new mission to boost the

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Swift Space Telescope up into a higher orbit.

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All that and more still to come on, uh, space

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time.

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Scientists have discovered the mineral garnet

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in the Martian meteorite. And these findings

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may help reveal how the Red Planet evolved

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billions of years ago. You see, garnet is

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a completely new type of rock from the Red

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Planet, and it offers a rare glimpse into the

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ancient Martian past. The findings,

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reported in the journal Geochemical

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Perspectives Letters, could help researchers

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piece together the planet's 4.5 billion year

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geological history. It offers a new time

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capsule, reserving clues about the

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temperatures, pressures, and processes that

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shaped the Red Planet billions of years ago.

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Garnet is a dark red gem. It was

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popular in ancient Egypt, with the Romans and

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with the Victorian elite. It's also the

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January birthstone, and it's a

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cornerstone mineral in geology, providing a

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powerful record of the tectonic forces, ore

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forming processes, and fluid rock

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interactions that shape the Earth's crust and

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mantle. One of the study's authors, James

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Darling from the University of Portsmouth,

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says the findings add striking new dimensions

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to science's understanding of the geology of

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Mars, and they open up a new window into its

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evolution. Evolution. Garnet bearing rock

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could provide clues about how Mars has

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changed throughout its history and provide

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new insights into the ancient environments

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that could have formed the garnet and related

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minerals. The garnet was discovered

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during an analysis of a fragment of a Martian

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meteorite known as

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NWA8171.

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The authors originally thought the sample was

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simply common pyroxene, But a more detailed

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examination using electron microscopy and

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microanalysis discovered it to be garnet, a

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mineral that had not been identified en masse

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before. Garnet is a classic

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example of a mineral often found in

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metamorphic rocks on Earth. The process of

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metamorphism transforms igneous or

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sedimentary rocks into a new form through

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exposure to extreme heat, high pressure, or

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hot fluids. On Mars, the heat and

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pressure needed to produce scarlet through

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metamorphism could have come from the impact

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of a meteor hitting the surface, or from

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magma rising up into the crust, or from both.

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Uh, however, the authors admit they can't

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rule out that the garnet bearing rock may

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well have been delivered to Mars and

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incorporated into its surface through a

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meteor impact. So the authors now need to

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study the garnet's, uh, isotopic signatures

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in order to verify whether it was originally

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produced on Mars or whether it came to Mars

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and consequently came to Earth from another

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body. Measuring oxygen isotopes

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from the Garnet bearing rock itself would

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help to confirm its origins. And

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needless to say, we'll keep you informed.

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This is space time. Still to come.

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NASA's new mission to try and save the Swift

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space Telescope by boosting it into a higher

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orbit. And later in the science report,

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discovery that humans were already using fire

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between 1.07 and

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1.79 million years ago.

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All that and more still to come on uh, space

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time.

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Stuart Gary: Foreign.

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Stuart Gary: NASA's about to launch a new mission designed

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to extend the life of a half billion dollar

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spacecraft by boosting it into a higher

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orbit. Catalyst Space will use its Link

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rescue craft to boost the orbit of NASA's

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Swift gamma ray Space Telescope.

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Swift was launched back in 2004 to study

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changes in the high energy universe. Things

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like gamma ray bursts, which are the powerful

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explosions in the cosmos see when a

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rapid sudden event takes place in the sky.

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Swift acts as an early warning system,

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providing crucial information that allows

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other observatories to follow up and learn

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more about the event and consequently how the

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universe works. But after 22

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years, Swift's 600 kilometre high orbit has

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begun to decay rapidly because of increased

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solar activity. NASA initially expected

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it to stay in orbit until the early2030s,

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but the latest peak in the Sun's 11 year

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solar cycle was far stronger than expected.

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Increased solar activity heats and swells

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Earth's atmosphere and that creates extra

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atmospheric drag on orbiting spacecraft.

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And that atmospheric drag will cause

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spacecraft orbits to decay, ultimately

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burning up in the atmosphere unless they're

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boosted back up into higher orbits. For

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Swift, that wasn't possible and mission

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managers realised the telescope was doomed in

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a matter of months. It's now just 370

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kilometres in altitude and will soon suffer

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enough orbital decay to re enter the

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atmosphere and begin burning up.

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But rather than allowing the mission to end,

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NASA decided to take this opportunity to test

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a new spacecraft specifically designed to

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attach to Swift and boost it back up to its

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original orbit. In September 2025,

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NASA awarded a contract to Catalyst Space to

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mount a robotic servicing mission to Swift.

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In less than a year, the mission will use a

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400 kilogramme refrigerator sized robotic

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rescue craft called LINK to rendezvous with

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Swift and boost it back up into a higher

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altitude. Link will be Launched

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aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket,

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the Pegasus will be taken up to an altitude

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of about 45,000ft, attached to the underbelly

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of the converted Lockheed L1011 airliner

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Stargazer, which will take off from a Runway

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in the Marshall Islands. Once the

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airliner reaches the correct altitude,

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Pegasus will be released, ignite its own

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engine and climb into space. Once in

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orbit, Pegasus will deploy the Link rescue

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craft, which will then attempt to rendezvous

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with Swift, taking images of the spacecraft

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from different angles so mission managers can

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inspect the ageing probe for damage from

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debris and micrometeorites and work out how

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they're going to capture it. Link will then

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attach to Swift using its three robotic arms,

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and gradually, over more than six weeks,

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it'll use its thrusters to slowly boost the

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observatory back up into its 600 kilometres

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high orbit. It's a mission that might not

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only save the spacecraft, but demonstrate the

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possibility of extending the lives of other

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spacecraft through boosting, refuelling or

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repair work while in orbit. This report

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from NASA tv.

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Stuart Gary: NASA is working with an American startup to

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attempt something no one has ever achieved

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boost a spacecraft before it re enters the

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atmosphere.

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Stuart Gary: This is just a really different kind of

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mission. We can't wait long.

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Its orbit has been lowering. If we

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do nothing, Swift will re enter the

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atmosphere and so there's nothing to lose.

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Just a few months ago, this spacecraft was a

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conceptual drawing.

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Stuart Gary: Catalyst's robotic spacecraft will approach

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the observatory, carefully capture it

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and propel it to nearly its original orbit.

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Stuart Gary: Six months ago, this was a PowerPoint. In

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under a year, we're going from identification

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of a problem, proposal, contract

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award to launch.

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Stuart Gary: Saving Swift isn't about just preserving one

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mission. It's about moving forward in a

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future where we can give spacecraft a second

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life.

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Stuart Gary: And in that report from NASA tv, we heard

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from NASA Swift scientists Brad Senko and

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Regina Caputo, Catalyst CEO Gunhee

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Lee and Catalyst Link lead scientist Kerryn

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Wilson. This space, time.

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And time.

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Um, now for another brief look at some of the

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other storeys making news in science this

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week with the Science report. The World

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Meteorological Organisation has released its

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latest State of the Climate in Asia report,

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showing that ocean surface temperatures have

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now reached a new record. The study found

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the seas of Asia had warmed faster than the

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global average, with a mean surface

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temperature of around 0.96 degrees

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Celsius above the 1991-2020

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average, with China, Korea and Japan all

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recording their hottest summers on record.

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Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam experienced

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devastating floods and monsoons and tropical

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cyclone related rainfall, with over 1200

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deaths from flooding in Pakistan and Vietnam

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alone. A new

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study has found that people tend to undergo

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changes in their brains within a month after

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their first psychedelic experience from magic

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mushrooms. The findings, reported in the

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journal Nature Communications, involved 28

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healthy people who had never taken magic

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mushrooms before and scanned their brains

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within an hour of a single high dose of

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Psilocyphon and again a month later.

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The authors found that after a month, modest

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brain changes were visible, relating to

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cognitive flexibility, psychological insight

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and well being.

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Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that

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early humans were already using fire in South

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Africa's wonder work caves between

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1.07 and 1.79

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million years ago. The previous discovery

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of early fire in the Kalahari Desert cave

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system had been dated to around a million

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years ago. The new findings, reported in the

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journal plos one, extend the chronology of

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one of the earliest known records of fire use

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associated with hominids. Scientists from

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the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found

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signs of repeated fire use deep inside the

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cave, far beyond the reach of natural

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wildfires, suggesting that early humans were

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bringing naturally occurring fire into the

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cave and then maintaining it there long

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before they learned how to create it for

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themselves. To reach their conclusions, the

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authors used a new method based on light

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emitting properties of burnt bones.

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When illuminated at specific wavelengths of

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light, bones that have been exposed to

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intense heat emit a distinctive glow and that

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can be recorded by instruments.

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Well, we may well be heading for a Skynet

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future thanks to artificial intelligence, but

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it looks like there's a glimmer of hope on

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the horizon. A new study claims AI

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becomes more aligned with human moral

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reasoning, the larger and more complex it

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gets. The findings reported in the Journal of

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the Royal Society Open Science assessed 75

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large language models, including ChatGPT,

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Claude, and Deep SEQ, to see if they'd agree

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with human preferences when presented with

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life or death dilemmas. They found that the

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number of parameters a model was made up of

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affected how likely it was to agree with

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humans. The authors say the more complex the

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models were, more closely they aligned with

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human morality. But the improvements were

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gradual as the complexity increased,

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the dangers of lithium ion batteries may soon

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be a thing of the past as the next big

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development in battery technology called

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lithium titanate begins to make an inroad

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into the consumer market. With the details,

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we're joined by technology editor Alex

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Zaharov Roy from TechAdvice Life.

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Alex Zaharov-Reutt: Now, these batteries actually have been in

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use by NASA and the military for some

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decades, but they weren't commercial, uh, or

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commercially available because the technology

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just hadn't advanced to a degree that you

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could replicate as easily as lithium ion.

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Now, lithium M ion has a problem in that if

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you put a nail through the battery in the

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back of your phone, it'll have a runaway

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thermal reaction where you'll have this

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outgassing of very toxic gases. And we hear

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about people with scooters that they charge

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them inside their houses, they leave them on

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the charger all night. They might maybe have

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third party batteries or the batteries

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themselves have been damaged, because on

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scooters, you know, you're banging on kerbs

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and it's just a rough sort of environment for

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the battery and they go off. And if people

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have died, their houses have been burnt down.

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And so people are wary of modern

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mobile batteries, especially if it's very

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cold, they don't charge. I mean, we heard

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about cars that don't charge in the very cold

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American winters. And lithium titanite has a

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few serious advantages. One, it operates in

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those minus 20, minus 30 degrees Celsius

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temperatures, which are very bad for lithium

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ion batteries. And they operate at, at high

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temperatures as well. They recharge to full

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in approximately 20 minutes. If you damage

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them with a nail or if they get broken in an

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aeroplane, uh, seat, they will not have the

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runaway thermal reaction. And then on top of

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all of that, a normal mobile phone Battery

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lasts about 1500 cycles before it starts

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getting to about 80% of its life and, you

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know, discharges very quickly. We've all

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experienced a phone that is not holding

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anywhere near the charge you got when it was

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new. And of course you could buy a new or

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third party battery. But imagine if you could

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have a battery that lasted 10 or even 20

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years before you needed to replace it.

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Lithium titanate batteries have a red charge

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cycle not of 1500, but of 20,000 cycles or

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more. There are some robot prototypes from 30

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years ago that are still working to this day

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because they had lithium titanate batteries.

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So Toshiba is one of the companies that is

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commercialising this, going to be using it in

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power tools that use rechargeable batteries.

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We'll see these things in cars and in

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scooters and the company behind it have an

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operating system that can interface with any

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sort of battery and produce the correct sort

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of voltage for any sort of application. So

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it's kind of this universal translator

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between different sorts of batteries and

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different sorts of electronics. In the past,

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you had to match them very carefully and

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closely together. But with this operating

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system system merged with this lithium, uh,

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titanate batteries, it's going to be the

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revolution we've been waiting for in battery

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technology, but it'll still take a few years

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before it's everywhere. But it's a great

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example of that famous saying from William

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Gibson, the guy who wrote Neuromancer. He

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said the future has already been invented, it

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just hasn't been widely distributed yet.

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Well, lithium titanates, time is on the very

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cusp of being widely distributed and the

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battery problems of the past 10 years are

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going to fade away into non existent. They'll

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be, uh, distant memories.

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Stuart Gary: That's Alex Sahar of Reutt from

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00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:18.690
TechAdvice.com Life and

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00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:20.010
this is Space Time.

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00:17:35.530 --> 00:17:38.330
And that's the show for now. Space Time

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00:17:38.330 --> 00:17:40.410
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Stuart Gary: You've been listening to Space Time with

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Stuart Gary. This has been another quality

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